Cochise County reports fleet replacements complete for year; budgets engine rebuilds and 19 new vehicles next fiscal year

At a June 10 Cochise County Board of Supervisors work session in Bisbee, Mr. Fazio, a public works presenter, told supervisors the county received all scheduled vehicle replacements for the current fiscal year and plans to order 19 replacement vehicles in the next fiscal year.

Fazio said the county completed an auction that listed 24 surplus vehicles; “All of them but 1 sold,” he said, and added that 23 had been picked up and paid for. He told the board the county kept a small number of vehicles back to run a follow-up auction and will continue pricing near the Blue Book value.

The county reported it performed most upfits in house (16 vehicles) and outsourced five upfits to a contractor in Tucson. On heavy equipment, Fazio described a cost-saving strategy of midlife engine rebuilds rather than full replacements: “This piece of equipment that we're buying an engine for us right now is probably a $1,100,000 piece of equipment. To buy an engine for it, you're we're looking at probably somewhere around the 200,000 mark,” he said, and added the rebuild should extend useful life by about 5,000 operating hours.

Fazio also described other planned purchases for the solid-waste and highway fleets, including a walking-floor truck and another roll-off truck for solid waste, a high-side dump trailer to speed metal recycling loads to Tucson, and a chip spreader for highway maintenance. He said the high-side trailer should reduce turnaround time when drivers transport recycled metal and increase safety by reducing repeated hook/unhook operations.

On maintenance options, Fazio explained the county uses in-frame engine rebuilds and other midlife rehabilitation when a vehicle body remains in good condition. He said some in-frame rebuild parts have been hard to obtain for one roll-off truck and that the county may trade that truck and purchase a replacement instead. He also noted the county has two striper trucks as backups and uses an in-house mowing/upfit program to extend equipment life.

The presentation closed with Fazio saying a new solid-waste truck would arrive the next day and that the department will bring further budget and procurement information as needed. No formal board action on fleet purchases was recorded during the session.